a writer's give and take

Short Story Review: “The Glad Hosts” by Rebecca Campbell

The biological factoid that bacteria on and in one’s body outnumbers the body’s cells by 10 to 1 is ripe for speculation. One must wonder how integrated the organisms are. What choices are actually compromises for the super-organism that each body represents?

Amid a curious background landscape of a lovely off-world planet, this tale explores the super-organism of a human infected with an alien microorganism. The changes are not altogether unpleasant as the person reacts to the parasite morphing through many different life stages. Her very personality and psychology co-opt and adapt to the changes in a startlingly welcoming way.

This tale appears in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2016 edited by Paula Guran, I received directly from Prime Books. I’ve previously read this author’s “Unearthly Landscape by a Lady”.